On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York known as out billionaire Elon Musk for killing proposals to reform pharmaceutical profit managers as a way to decrease drug costs.
Ocasio-Cortez identified the overwhelming bipartisan help to reform PBMs, which act as negotiating entities overseeing prescription drug advantages for insurance coverage. They’ve an nearly monopolistic energy over the drug provide chain. And he or she defined that reforms may need been handed … if Musk didn’t management the GOP.
“Now this bill was almost passed … within a bigger package to prevent the government shutting down,” she stated throughout a Home Vitality and Commerce Committee listening to. “Democrats supported it. Republicans supported it. So why isn’t this moving? Well … Elon Musk began firing off a barrage of social media posts opposing pharmacy benefit manager reform. And all of a sudden, this bill that had almost unanimous support fell apart in a matter of hours.”
Musk labored to kill a authorities funding invoice that included reforms for PBMs. He stated the invoice was stuffed with “pork.”
Take into account, an unlimited array of sufferers and client advocates help reforming PBMs. And in December, laws to reform them was co-sponsored within the Home by Republican Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee and Democrat Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, and within the Senate by (unbelievably) Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri. Discuss bipartisan.
“The problem here is not a substance issue. It’s not a process issue. It’s an oligarchy issue. It’s a power issue,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “And this room is where the power of the people of the United States reside.”
“Whether you’re a Democrat or you’re a Republican, everyone here was elected to be accountable to the people of the United States, not to be governed by tweet, but to be governed by their duly elected representation,” she stated, pointing to a printed-out publish Musk dismissively made on X about PBMs. “And so we can get this done because there are more of us than there are of him.”
Democrats have been efficient in utilizing their positions on Republican-led committees to attract consideration to the unlawful takeover of our authorities businesses by Musk, Trump, and their damaging Division of Authorities Effectivity cabal.
